Ferrer leaves Pacific World, Hotelbeds grows in Asia

MANUEL Ferrer has officially left Pacific World as managing director overseeing Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, but he continues to serve TUI as consultant until March 2013.

Ferrer said he had achieved what he set out to do and that it was time for a new challenge.

Ferrer has worked with TUI for 13 years. He is credited with expanding TUI’s Hotelbeds to Asia from scratch at the end of 2005, based in Shanghai. He was involved in the acquisition of Pacific World and moved to Singapore in 2008. Under him, Pacific World, whose business was primarily the English-speaking markets, established new source markets including Spain, France, Germany and Russia.

Hotelbeds itself is now expanding in Asia. Regional managing director Middle East & Asia-Pacific, Pablo Aycart, said it was positioning itself for a 40 per cent growth in the region over the next three years (read more in TTG Asia’s Travel Distribution report, November 16 issue).

Aycart explained that TUI had restructured its Accommodations and Destinations division, within which Hotelbeds and Pacific World had been operating, and separated the businesses as B2B (Hotelbeds and Destination Services) and Specialist (which includes MICE, i.e. Pacific World).

Asked if this had changed things and influenced him to leave, Ferrer said: “My job is done. I’m looking forward to continuing living here in Singapore but with a new challenge.”

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